Law
officers seen during protests in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on
Sunday.Shannon
Stapleton/Reuters

Chaos erupted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, over the weekend as
protesters gathered to demonstrate against the police-shooting
death of a 37-year-old black man, Alton Sterling, there last
week.

The Black Lives Matter protests there and across the country —
from New York City and Rochester, New York, to Washington, D.C.,
and St. Paul, Minnesota — have at times been violent, leading to
hundreds of arrests.

Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, who was
arrested on Saturday night in Baton Rouge while protesting
Sterling's death, tweeted beforehand that "if anything happens
tonight, it was caused by the police."

"Everybody has been peaceful tonight but them," he added.

In response to outcry over McKesson's arrest, a major with the
Louisiana State Police told a reporter with The Advocate that
McKesson and the other protesters had "clearly" been blocking a
roadway.

"We respond to their actions," the major told Advocate reporter
Maya Lau in a
video later posted on her Twitter account.

Sgt. Don Coppola, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge police
department, said the police were responding to the increasingly
aggressive behavior of out-of-town protesters who had begun
protesting outside the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters
on Sunday.

"It appears the protest at Baton Rouge Police Headquarters have
become more violent as out-of-town protesters are arriving,"
he told the Associated Press, adding that one officer's teeth
had been knocked out by a projectile thrown into the police
station.

Police
officers scuffling with a demonstrator while trying to apprehend
him during a rally in Baton Rouge on Sunday.Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

A confrontation also apparently erupted between riot police
officers and New Black Panther activists on Saturday night.
Several of the activists were carrying shotguns, which is
permitted under Louisiana's open-carry laws, according to
Reuters. A police spokesman said several arrests were made and
two weapons recovered.

Still, many protesters have contested claims that they provoked
the Baton Rouge PD, which has evidently become militarized and
tense in recent days.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said he was "very proud" of the
Louisiana
law enforcement response.

"The police tactics in response have been very moderate. I'm very
proud of that," he said in a statement.

Still, many on social media condemned the police's response
during the protests. Multiple protesters described being
confronted by police officers wielding assault rifles as they
were demonstrating, apparently unarmed.

Police with assault rifles just chased me and my boyfriend down the street #BatonRouge

At least two journalists were reportedly arrested Saturday night,
along with more than 100 others.

"The sheer number of arrests last night raises serious questions
about proportionate response to peaceful protests," Jamira
Burley, Amnesty International's campaign manager for gun violence
and criminal justice reform,
said in a statement from Baton Rouge.

"Law enforcement officers cannot selectively decide which laws to
enforce during demonstrations — be it against journalists, legal
observers, or protesters."

Sterling's death, which was captured on video, has sparked
outrage across the country from those who say he should not have
been killed — Sterling was pinned to the ground by the police
when one officer shot him in the chest.

Alton
Sterling, a 37-year-old father, was pinned to the ground by the
police when one officer took out his gun and shot him in the
chest.Screenshot
via The Advocate

Sterling's death came two days before another black man, Philando
Castile,
was fatally shot during a traffic stop outside St. Paul. His
girlfriend filmed the aftermath of the shooting and has insisted
that Castile complied with the police officer who pulled them
over before he was shot four times.

During a protest in Dallas on Thursday night over the killings, a
gunman fatally shot five police officers and wounded seven others
in what was the deadliest day for US police officers since 9/11.
At least 21 officers were injured in protests in St. Paul on
Saturday,
ABC reported, and more than 100 protesters were arrested.